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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

"The Art of Community" tackles a very difficult question in the Open Source world: how do you build a strong community around your project? Jono addresses this by using anecdotal evidence of good community organization, and discussing the facets that apply to community development. Jono's varied experiences are shown through anecdotes about the Ubuntu community and other communities he has participated in. The stories he shares are concise and clear, but demonstrate their points effectively and thoughtfully. Jono's writing skills are first-rate, with strong points made clearly. He builds the community idea from grassroots to the enterprise and shows how community participation can help -- and harm -- at each step along the way. It's obvious that Jono knows what he's talking about, and he communicates it well. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the dynamics of a community or any project leader looking to build from the ground up.

"Embedded Linux Primer" by Christopher Hallinan is an excellent resource for anyone looking to use Linux in an embedded system. It does not cover basics, so is more targeted to experienced Linux or embedded systems developers looking to move to Linux embedded systems.
The book covers a variety of topics including the Linux kernel's interaction with hardware, system initialization, design considerations when working with an embedded system, and porting Linux. The book provides a detailed description of most of these topics, including many step-by-step directions on reference implementations.
The book does not provide command-by-command howtos for many of the steps involved, but the details should be obvious to anyone familiar with basic kernel building and software development.
The book also briefly discusses the new hard real-time support for the Linux kernel, including hardware-specific implementation issues. It also provides all code samples in the book under the GPL license, though it does not provide a CD.
All in all, I would strongly recommend this book for anyone looking to develop an Embedded Linux System or for anyone curious about the inner workings of the Linux kernel on embedded systems.

"SELinux by Example" is a well-written book that presents a primer on the SELinux framework as well as a number of useful real-world examples of the use of SELinux. Chapters include study points and questions to help insure you have mastered a given set of topics before you move on to more advanced topics.
Users new to Linux administration should first make sure they have a strong understanding of the default Linux security and permissions model. While "SELinux by Example" describes SELinux from the ground up, it does assume a fair amount of knowledge about Linux administration.
The examples in the book provide a clear definition of an SELinux policy as well as explanations of how each component of the policy is applied and the purposes of those components.
The book ends with a comprehensive reference guide to the SELinux Policy Language, making it an invaluable reference to those already familiar with SELinux. The index to the book provides more insight into many parts of the syntax.
"SELinux by Example" is an absolute benefit to anyone who is tasked with administering a Security-Enhanced Linux system, whether it is their first experience with SELinux or they are a seasoned veteran administrator.

Gentoo Linux has provided me with a stable base for all of my computers, ranging from my notebook to my servers. I've run various forms of gentoo on 3 architectures over the past year and a half.
I've never had "dependency hell" with Gentoo's portage system. It may take a few minutes to build things from source, but you end up with a system configured how you want it. You can have portage build in all kinds of optional components, or not.
All contributions by the Gentoo project itself are released under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

I dislike Debian for one simple reason: no product updates. I am concerned even about security for their lack of/delay in updating packages. New software versions, IMHO, are critical to any production system.

I have, over time, converted all but one of my linux boxes to Gentoo. Gentoo has had every piece of software I've ever wanted built right into it's 'Portage' package management system. It's amazingly customizable. I'll be honest, it doesn't run any faster than any other distro (despite some fanatics claims), but I do like that I can have the OPTION of such-and-such support in FooBar v 1.2... or NOT.
Portage is, without a doubt, my favorite package management system.

Gentoo is my distribution of choice for all of my boxes these days. While, as an experienced linux user, the installation was quite simple and straightforward with the Gentoo Handbook, I think a number of users would be intimidated by the shell work that has to be done during the install. Hopefully we'll see a fully-featured installation script coming out as a full part of the distribution soon.
I don't claim Gentoo to be "faster": I do claim it to be more customizable. Why compile in support for things I don't need? Compilation can be offloaded to distcc and run overnight, so compile time is hardly a problem worth thinking about.
Portage is the best package management system I've seen from all of the distributions I have tried. I have yet to have a dependency problem like I had under RedHat (and let's not go there on Slackware). The software available through portage is, in my opinion, unrivaled. On my system, there are more than 10,000 packages listed.
The Gentoo community is probably the biggest plus to using Gentoo. I don't know if it comes from the large developer base, the newness of the distribution, or what, but I have found no community like it for any other distribution. (Just look at what channel on the Freenode IRC network has the most users at virtually any time--about 1000: #gentoo) I feel that although it's just a distribution of an operating system, it also gives you a feeling of being part of a community.